Extra credit
The three major credit reporting firms (Experian, Equifax, Transunion) just announced a deal with the American Council of the Blind to ensure that their website is accessible and their hard copy reports are made available in alternative formats. So now people with visual disabilities can more easily find out that they’re in as much financial trouble as everyone else…
Law Office of Lainey Feingold: Accessible Credit Reports Press Release
Smarty pants
Many people with repetitive strain injuries are paying lots o’ moolah for trays that let them position their keyboards near their laps. Designer Eric De Nijs has eliminated the need for this extra furniture by prototyping a pair of jeans with the keyboard built right in. Keyboard tilt can be adjusted by bending one or both legs. Speakers are built into de nijs…er, the knees. And we’re so not going to comment on the location of the joystick controller.
New patent Appleication
Apple has submitted a patent for a chat interface that appears to have capabilities for both videoconferencing and transmission of prerecorded video, both of which will be of interest to individuals with hearing impairments. To sweeten the pot, the patent also appears to have more sophisticated word prediction capabilities, which will benefit users with dexterity and cognitive disabilities.
A nice gesture
Samsung–one of the most frequent company names to show up on these pages–has patented a gesture-based interface for cell phones. Could be useful to people with some types of hand/arm disabilities; depending on its reliance on movement precision and its ability to be combined with audio output, could it be an improvement over touch screens for blind users?
Engadget: Samsung skips the touchscreen, patents gesture-based phone interface
Quickies at MIT
Quickies combine the best features of Post-It Notes and software. An RFID tag is attached to each Post-It, enabling heretofore unrealized capabilities, via computer, such as tracking where you left a note (great cognitive aid!) and pulling up a list of all notes that contain a specific word. Just a gleam in MIT researchers’ eyes for now.
First peek at a pico-projector
We’ve been posting on pico-projectors for a while, those tiny projectors planned to replace or supplement the screens on mobile products. Now one has actually reached the market, a media player. The relevant concerns? People with impaired dexterity may not be able to hold these products well enough for convenient use. And will the projected image be bright enough? This one is rated at 9 lux (for a 53 inch image), which is less than a footcandle — the brightness of a surface illuminated by a single candle held a foot away. A smaller image may be bright enough to use, depending on ambient lighting conditions. We’d be less worried if we knew there had been some attempt to factor in the needs of users with relevant disabilities.
PMP: Sunvision PMPP, World First Media Player With Pico-Projector
Android deserves augmented reality
Android, Google’s mobile development platform, has attracted a really useful app. Enkin takes your location, camera input, and other info, and renders a customized meaningful overlay: where your car is in the lot, where the nearest noodle shop is, etc. This kind of personal guidance would be tremendously valuable for those with cognitive disabilities, permitting independent living and travel. Add audio output and you have a wayfinding device for blind users. Add a transcription service and you have live captions, superimposed on the conversation.